Rapidly eroding cliff threatens Californian clifftop homes

Residents have been ordered to move out of their clifftop homes in California after dramatic erosion encroached right up to their back doors.

The small city of Pacifica, south of San Francisco, has been battered by storms stirred up by El Niño.  

Drone footage shows just how close the sea is to claiming property along the edge.

Police have now issued orders for residents to leave the buildings for their own safety, posting signs on the doors.

Resident Larry Spies was philosophical on the inevitable loss of his home.

“Either you laugh or cry, that’s about all you can do,” he told US television station the ABC.

In 1998 similar events took place when cliff front homes were knocked down before they tumbled into the sea.

However some residents like Michelle McKay are refusing to leave.

“I feel totally safe and I’m not leaving,” she said.

The city’s chief building official Mike Cully said in a statement the slopes had become “critically over steepened” and were anticipated to become more stable in the next few days.

 “Recent bluff failures have resulted in unsafe conditions for living space at 310 Esplanade Avenue,”  he said.